


like a restless wind

by downthedarkpath



Series: like a restless wind [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: DreamSMP - Freeform, Family, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Podfic Available, The Prison, mama puffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29633436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/downthedarkpath/pseuds/downthedarkpath
Summary: “Once upon a time, there was a young boy. He didn’t have a mother or a father, or a brother or a sister. But he had a friend, and a universe. And he loved them very much.“This boy was destined for greatness,” she says, “he was as strong as the greatest wind, and as tall as the highest mountain, and as beautiful as the brightest star. He could do anything he wanted to, and he would."
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream
Series: like a restless wind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2193009
Comments: 38
Kudos: 110





	like a restless wind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [n_owsy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/n_owsy/gifts).



> for izzy my beloved, whom i love immensely.
> 
> title from [across the universe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90M60PzmxEE) by the beatles.

“Oh, duckling.”

Dream hates it. The way she looks at him, like he’s killing her. He can’t meet her eyes, can barely even look at her. She has scabs on her knuckles, bruises from fights and callouses from her sword. They look like they hurt.

“What did you do?” she asks him, heart broken but so, so full of love.

He swallows. His throat is dry. His eyes aren’t. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Puffy tells him. She opens her arms, spreads her scabbed hands and calloused palms. There’s a bandage wrapped around her bicep, hidden under her coat. Red. “Oh, don’t be sorry. Just come here.”

He goes. She holds him. He’s too tall for her now, ducking his head until he can rest it in the crook of her neck. She holds her arms around him tightly, holding all of his pieces together.

“Do you remember,” she whispers to him, lightly and under her breath, “do you remember when I went to the Nether and you followed me?”

He nods. He doesn’t have the words to tell her he would never forget, but he tries. He forms the outline of a yes with his lips but can’t let it pass. She knows. She knows anyway.

“And we were going along the highways? You got in my boat,” Puffy continues. “And we were just driving around for a little while. You remember that?”

Of course he does.

“Good,” she says, “good. I’m glad. You’re okay, aren’t you?”

Dream nods again. He presses his face into the fabric of her collar, breathes it in and tries to memorise it.

Puffy brings a hand up to his hair, tangling her fingers in it. He doesn’t get a chance to clean it here, and the soot and heat from the lava doesn’t do it any favours. “Of course you’re okay,” she says, and she exhales with a sigh. She sounds exhausted.

She brings them both to the ground slowly. It’s uncomfortable - Sam hadn’t designed this place with comfort in mind - and loose stones stick in the flesh of his knees. Puffy guides him to sit cross legged with his back to her, facing the lava. She sits behind him and puts her hands on his back.

He feels safe.

She starts to untangle his hair. It’s slow going, working through each knot carefully, but she does it. Her fingertips are gentle. 

Neither of them comment on the pile of hair that grows beside her. She doesn’t look at the way he’s lost weight, and Dream doesn’t bring it up either. He’s not sure how much she knows about how they treat him here, and he knows he doesn’t want her to.

“Will you tell me something?” he asks quietly. He has no one to speak to here, and his voice is worn out. 

“Of course I will. What do you want to hear?”

“Tell me a story.”

Her fingers still in his hair for a moment. He listens to her inhale slowly. “Once upon a time, there was a young boy. He didn’t have a mother or a father, or a brother or a sister. But he had a friend, and a universe. And he loved them very much.

“This boy was destined for greatness,” she says, “he was as strong as the greatest wind, and as tall as the highest mountain, and as beautiful as the brightest star. He could do anything he wanted to, and he would.

“He was alone for a long time, though. His friend was there, and so was his universe, but he was still lonely. He forged life in the heart of death. He built them a home, and he hunted for food, and he mined for coal and iron and made armour. He made weaponry and tools. He made everything out of nothing.

“One day, this boy met a woman. She was as strong as the night was dark, and as tall as the highest tree, and as beautiful as the leaves in winter. At first, he was afraid of her. He hid from her, and ran circles around her, and avoided her, for a while,” Puffy says. She pauses, tugs another one of the knots in his hair. “But eventually, he spoke to her.”

“What did he say?”

“He said ‘hello’. That’s all. Just ‘hello’. And it was the best thing that woman had ever heard. She said hello back. She told him about her. She was a great pirate, sailing every sea she could. She had been alone for a very long time, as well. Maybe that was what drew them to each other.

“He asked her if they could sail together some time. This woman, this captain, she wasn’t sure. After all, this boy had his friend and his universe. He couldn’t just leave them, could he? But he was determined, and as you know, he could do anything he wanted.

“So they sailed together,” she says, “they sailed together for a very long time. He started to call her ‘Captain’. He made her swords and axes, and he repaired her ship whenever they ran aground. They hunted together, and cooked and ate together. At night, he showed her the stars. They named constellations after each other.

“Slowly, he began to grow up. The young boy began to miss his friend and his universe. He had never had a home, not a proper one, but his universe was the closest thing. He asked if she would take him back.

“The Captain didn’t want to. She didn’t want to leave him again. But she did as he asked. She set her ship in the direction of his universe, and they sailed back home to his friend and his world.

“This boy had never had to say goodbye to anyone before. But when they arrived at his land, and he stepped off of her ship, he didn’t say it. Instead, he asked her if she would ever come back.”

“What did she say?” Dream asks. He breathes slower. Puffy does too, and her air brushes over the back of his neck.

“She said ‘of course I will. Of course I’ll come back’.”

“Did she?”

“She did,” Puffy says, “after a while. She left her boy to sail a bit more. Everywhere she went, she saw things that reminded her of him. Coins, jewels, small rocks. Each time, she picked one up to bring home to him. And when she returned to him, years later, she had quite a collection to give him.

“Only, when she got ashore, and she asked around for her boy, she couldn’t find him. You see, he had never told her his name. He was the boy with his friend and his universe, as beautiful as the brightest star, as tall as a mountain, as strong as the wind. That’s all she knew about him. Sometimes, when she was sailing, and it was just her alone with the oceans, the Captain had wondered if she imagined him. After all, the boy seemed more like a god than a boy.”

“Did she ever find him again?”

Puffy nods. “She did, eventually. When she found him, her boy had grown into a man. He was taller than a mountain now, and stronger than the wind. He had grown up without her.

“He was a warmonger now,” she says, “he held a sword like he was born with it in his hand. He fought like it was all he was supposed to do. His universe had grown in her absence, and had brought conflict into his world. He was fighting fire with fire. But he was alive.

“She gave him the trinkets she had collected. He seemed to like them. It must have been the first time anyone had given him a gift. The Captain had been the only mother he’d ever known. Do you want to know what she gave him?”

Dream nods.

Puffy leans forward, resting her chin on his shoulder. Dream feels her fish into her pocket, pulling something out. Her arm snakes around his waist, seeking out one of his hands. When she finds it, when she unfurls his fingers, she presses a stone into his palm.

He takes his hand from her, examining the stone. “What is it?”

“Peridot,” Puffy says. “It was the first item she collected for him. It’s said to protect the owner from nightmares.”

“Can I keep it?” Dream asks.

Puffy nods. He doesn’t see it, but he feels it. “Of course you can. Who do you think she found it for?”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. let me know what you think!
> 
> come say hi on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ERR0RGEO)


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